Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan, who has been transferred to Mizoram for his remaining tenure, is unlikely to take charge of his new assignment and may prefer to resign, sources said on Sunday.
Sankaranarayanan is likely to resign and head home to Kerala, PTI reports quoting
sources said on Sunday. "He is unlikely to go to Mizoram," the sources added.

Meanwhile, Gujarat governor OP Kohli, who has been asked to discharge duty as Maharashtra governor for the time being, is arriving in Mumbai in the evening on Sunday and the swearing-in will take place at 8pm , the sources said.

A Rashtrapati Bhawan communique issued on Saturday night said that Sankaranarayanan was being shifted to Mizoram and that Gujarat governor OP Kohli had been asked to discharge his duties.

82-year-old Sankaranarayanan, a senior Congress leader, was among the first batch of governors who was telephoned by Home Secretary Anil Goswami to put in his papers after change of government at the Centre. His tenure ends in 2017.

After a nudge from the home secretary, Sankaranarayanan had said in June that he will consider quitting if asked by an "appropriate authority".

"No post is permanent in a democracy. If a person having appropriate authority calls me (asking to quit), then I will certainly think over it," he had stated.

Sankaranaryana has been transferred to a post that was held by Kamla Beniwal who was sacked earlier this month.

A month earlier Beniwal was posted to Mizoram from Gujarat where she had run-ins with the then chief minister Narendra Modi. 87-year-old Beniwal was removed just two months before her tenure was due to end.

Sankaranarayanan has been serving as governor of Maharashtra since 22 January, 2010. He took oath as governor of Maharashtra for a second time on 7 May, 2012 after the President granted him a fresh term of 5 years.

The transfer of Sankaranaryanan comes close on the heels of the Supreme Court issuing a notice to the Centre on Uttarakhand governor's plea challenging Modi government's moves to ease him out of office, bringing the controversy over removal of UPA-appointed governors under judicial lens.

The apex court had also issued notice to Goswami who had allegedly threatened governor Aziz Qureshi to resign from the post or face removal by Centre.

Virendra Kataria, a former Congress leader, was also sacked as Puducherry Governor last month.

Goswami is believed to have telephoned some of the governors, appointed by the previous UPA regime, asking them to step down after which West Bengal governor MK Narayanan, Nagaland governor Ashwani Kumar, UP governor BL Joshi and Chhattisgarh governor Shekhar Dutt put in their papers.